Navigate:

Paul Ryan to Obama: ‘Put up or shut up’ on sequester

'The president needs to show us how he plans on putting this in place,' Ryan said. | AP Photo

The Obama campaign quickly seized on Ryan’s comments here, saying that it’s Ryan and Romney — not the president — who are focused on political expediency and not supporting military members.

“If Congressman Ryan were serious about avoiding the automatic defense cuts he decried in North Carolina today, he’d tell Mitt Romney and his fellow Republicans in Congress to work with the President to achieve balanced deficit reduction that includes millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share — as the plan President Obama has put forward does,” Obama campaign spokesman Danny Kanner said in an email.

Text Size

-

+

reset

Responding to questions about Ryan’s vote for the budget bill that resulted in sequester, spokesman Michael Steel said that the president had insisted on “devastating defense cuts” for “political convenience.”

While much of a roundtable here was focused on Ryan’s attacks on Obama over defense cuts, the Wisconsin lawmaker also underscored the personal costs of war. Ryan brandished a white, laminated card that contains the names of men and women from his district who have lost their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“I’ve talked to these families, been at the funerals. It’s the ultimate sacrifice,” he said.

The roundtable — which was not open to the general public — was full of men and women whose lives intersected with the military and the defense industry.

Christina Kazakavage, whose son — Adam Gannett — was killed in action in Afghanistan, said he left behind “many, many more sons and daughters that are serving” and said she felt it was her job to look out for those servicemen and women.

“I am an extremely proud Gold Star mother, just like I was an extremely proud Blue Star mother,” Kazakavage said. “But in saying that, I know a lot of people, they look at me, and they think, ‘You’ve buried your son. What do you care? His job is done.’ It’s not.”

Ryan took no questions from the press and only a handful from attendees, including one on the comments of Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, who criticized several veterans for wading into politics in a video claiming that President Obama took too much credit for the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Dempsey, in a Fox News interview, said he was disappointed “if someone uses the uniform, whatever uniform it is, for partisan politics” because “it does erode that bond of trust that we have with the American people.”

Ryan initially thought the question was about Dempsey’s testimony to the House Budget Committee, but Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) — who introduced him here — quickly corrected him.

“I’ll just say on a personal note, just as these gentlemen who are here who are former generals and served our military, I think you should certainly have the right to speak your mind,” Ellmers said. “And I think I understand where General Dempsey was coming from, however, I think that this is a very important issue and certainly a First Amendment right, and they have every right to speak out if they feel they need to.”

Ryan, meanwhile, declined to address the issue on stage. Steel said Ryan was familiar with Dempsey’s statements.

“The chairman was clearly familiar on the topic. Congresswoman Ellmers answered the question,” he said but declined to say why Ryan had not addressed the topic himself.

Ryan's coming across like the cowardly little weany that he is without his Committee Chair power in play. Just another testament that these two yokels haven't a clue how to motivate people without their shadow puppeteers paving the way for them.

And if he keeps up this insulting attitude long enough he may find his own seat in play.

This is great, Ryan shoves a Tea Party budget down everyone's throat, and it ultimately becomes put up or shut up. What a civil guy who is open to compromise? And the Tea Party and GOP wonder why a huge number of Americans are infuriated with them. They have brought this on themselves, and everyone knows it. This is just sleazy politics by Ryan.

You put up or shut up on whether government spending create jobs. You tell us government spending does not create jobs. Then lament and cry that cutting government spending in defense will cost jobs. Freaking morons!

Cutting our economy prematurely since 2011 and slowing the return to health of the economy that Obama helped turn around in 2009. Every month private sector keeps creating jobs. And every month government keeps losing it and sucking money out of our system from the thousands that would have paid taxes, kept their houses, and bought stuff in the economy. If Obama had followed this direction in 2009 like they did in Europe we would have gotten similar results as there also. Clinton showed these idiots when to cut is in a healthy economy and was turned us towards surpluses. Who were those in 2010 that elected these folks?

The candidates running on secrecy have no standing to say put up or shut up. The candidates that don't release their tax forms have no standing. The candidates who claim to lower taxes but won't say how to pay for those tax cuts have no standing. The candidates supporting big polluters and holding our country hostage to the big tax giveaways for the big polluters have no standing.

Paul Ryan voted for the sequestration. He has no standing.

Mitt Romney says it should all be kicked down the road another year. He has no standing.

All the democrats want is a bit of shared sacrifice but the republicans refuse to give on any topic. They won't give up their tax cuts for the wealthy, they won't give up their tax giveaways to big polluters.

The country knows which party has refused to negotiate. The country knows that the president has made many compromises while the republicans have made none.

"Ryan did vote for the plan, but insisted Thursday that during budget negotiations it was “the president and his party leaders that insisted on this makeup, this formula."

Oh that poor poor Ryan....the victim!

Americans can ask the same of you, Paul Ryan. Put up or shut up. Get serious about BOTH revenues and cuts, and stop expecting to solve the budget deficit solely on the backs of the middle class, while you would give the richest yet another 30% tax cut.

we all want ryan to JUST shut up. period. lots of people beyond the extreme teapub base (myself included) would be more willing to listen what he has to say if it weren't wall to wall lies. despicable. and a cowardly way to try to win.

Obama's a charlatan. He speaks in vagaries, offers to actual solutions ever, and is driving our futures into nothingness. I applaud someone with brains and gumption for challenging President Obama on this very important topic when all Obama wants to do is blame, divide, spread anger and hate. Thank you Paul Ryan. President Obama- Put up or get out!

Obama's a charlatan. He speaks in vagaries, offers to actual solutions ever, and is driving our futures into nothingness. I applaud someone with brains and gumption for challenging President Obama on this very important topic when all Obama wants to do is blame, divide, spread anger and hate. Thank you Paul Ryan. President Obama- Put up or get out!

Following the vote on this law everyone was saying how Obama and the Dems got screwed. Ryan in turn voted for this law. Then when it came to being responsible and coming to an agreement in the Super-committee the Repubs refused to raise taxes on any top 2%ers. It is not Obama's fault that lawmakers like Ryan cannot make laws worth a dime.

Let military spending take a hit; we spend way to much on it. Let the Bush-era tax cuts run out. Then Dems can purpose a tax-cut for the middle-class on January 2nd that the Repubs may vote against--if they are crazy enough.

"Any cuts are going to have a devastating impact on our community.”... by which we mean of course that we want the devastating cuts to be made in someone else's community. We don't want to consider things like the long-term goals of society to be less warlike, or to spend a smaller percentage of GDP on killing people in other countries. We only care about how it impacts us economically right now, and screw the rest of the world. After all, isn't that the American way? And hey, it isn't like we have any evidence (USSR) that continued high spending on the military will weaken and eventually crash a country's economy. We care only about the timeframes we can squeeze into our tiny television-trained brains which is about 30 minutes, give or take a commercial break...

I voted for it....now I'm against it. How convienient, he's against it when he talking to a community with heavy involvement in supplying the military and have a strong personal interest. HYPOCRITE!

He's extremely passionate about screwing the middle class and poor people out of their medicare; and giving more tax breaks to the wealthy.

Paul, "Trickle Down Economics do not work (tried that for eight years). That fact negates the claim that more tax breaks for the "job creators" will create jobs. Let's try "Trickle Up Economics. Let's have the rich people pay taxes at the same rate (I'm talking about the amount they PAY as a percentage of their AGI, not the published RATE) as the middle class and do their part.